Created by Richard Barre It’s not all fun, fun, fun... Presenting the surfer dude as angst-ridden P.I., SoCal's WIL HARDESTY made an auspicious debut in 1995's The Innocents, scooping up a Shamus for Best First Novel, and praise from folks like Michael Collins, Stephen Greenleaf, James Crumley and Ross Thomas. Wil's a Vietnam vet still … Continue reading Wil Hardesty
Tag: Married
Regan Reilly
Created by Carol Higgins Clark (1956-2023) REGAN REILLY, daughter of famous, triple-named mystery writer Nora Regan Reilly (guess who?) is no stranger to high society, having grown up with private schools and European jaunts. She's also one Los Angeles-based private eye who gets around, her cases taking her to Oxford, Miami Beach, Ireland and Aspen. … Continue reading Regan Reilly
Garth Frederickson
Created by George C. Chesbro (1940-2008) A series of short stories featuring GARTH FREDERICKSON, a former NYPD lieutenant now pounding the pavement as a private investigator in Cairn, New York, a Big Apple suburb. If Garth's last name, or his creator's identity ring a bell, it's because Garth's "weird little brother" is world-renown criminalogist/private eye … Continue reading Garth Frederickson
Pete & Jeanne Schofield
Created by Thomas B. Dewey Pseudonyms include Tom Brandt and Cord Wainer (1915-81) The thing about San Fernando Valley post-war private eye PETE SCHOFIELD and his "beautiful little redhead" wife JEANNE is that they're married--happily! Well, more or less. Trust me, in private detective fiction, particularly for those times, there weren't many happily married couples, … Continue reading Pete & Jeanne Schofield
Sharon McCone
Created by Marcia Muller (1944--) "Marcia Muller is the founding mother of the contemporary female hard-boiled private eye." -- Sue Grafton Generally credited with being the first liberated female private detective of the modern era, Marcia Muller's SHARON McCONEÂ paved the way for the subsequentsuccess of Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone, Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski, Laura Lippmann's … Continue reading Sharon McCone
Sam Klein
Created by Allan Levine "Tolerance and equality were only words social gospellers ... spoke about. Such acceptance, Klein and every other Jew in Winnipeg knew, was often cheap talk. Neighbourhoods, clubs and summer resorts were all restricted. And yet, in the chaos and turmoil of the strike, something had changed." --The Bolshevik's Revenge The Jets, … Continue reading Sam Klein
Dino LaStanza
Created by O'Neil De Noux "I always get them. Always." Although this long-running series started out with him as a determined, no-nonsense New Orleans Homicide Detective, DINO LaSTANZA becomes a private investigator following the events in New Orleans Homicide (2013), and is a full-fledged private eye by the seventh novel, The Blue Nude (2013). In … Continue reading Dino LaStanza
Horace Rumpole
Created by John Mortimer (1923-2009 ) Down those mean streets and meaner chambers a man must waddle... Lord knows, he's not a private eye--but I wish he were. Like Philip Marlowe, HORACE RUMPOLE is "a relatively poor man... a common man or he could not go among common people. He has a sense of character, … Continue reading Horace Rumpole
Mary Carner
Created by Zelda F. Popkin Pseudonym of Jenny Feinberg (1898-1983) "Mary looked like year before last's debutante, last June's bride, this year's young matron. Prospective shoplifters, hesitating before a haul, never guessed that the pretty, well-groomed young woman in the oxford gray suit and kolinsky scarf, standing beside them at the counter, was far more … Continue reading Mary Carner
Dave Gurney
Created by John Verdon For someone who is not a locked room or impossible crime buff, Think of a Number (2010), the first in a popular series featuring DAVE GURNEY, a retired NYC homicide dick, was one hell of an introduction. It's a genre that's easy to make fun of (and I have), but it's actually … Continue reading Dave Gurney